CES 2017 Round Up

Every year the tech industry descends upon Las Vegas for the exciting and groundbreaking week of technological releases, previews, and celebrations that are expected at CES. In case you couldn’t get there, UBIF is here to give you the rundown of the the biggest, baddest tech conference in the whole of the galaxy.Smart Home, Sweet HomeCES 2017 saw an exorbitant amount of home accessories and appliances – from refrigerators to lighting to vacuums to DVRs to security systems and beyond – with the ability to fully integrate with Google Home, Apple HomeKit, and Amazon Alexa. Expect to see all your major appliances become smarter in the near future. Your favorite home feature is also about to get a lot bigger, brighter, and … decorative? That’s right, we’re talking about television wallpaper. LG debuted its show stopping W7 “wallpaper” TV with OLED. Go ahead and preorder your very own W7; it will only set you back $8,000. Of course for those of you who just like your TV screen to be a healthy amount of wide, CES was chock full of new, thin 4K TVs brought to you by the likes of Sony, Samsung, Hisense, LG and more. While there were models targeting more upscale buyers, there were also plenty of models aimed at the wider market of consumers who can’t drop $8,000 on television wallpaper.Now take a step into the garage. CES 2017 played host to a bevy of self-driving vehicles from Nvidia, Delphi, BMW, Chrysler, Honda, Bosch, and Toyota. The future is hands-free. Many automakers also showed off in-car integration with Alexa and Google.

Toyota’s concept car is programmed to learn from the driver’s habits and to seamlessly switch from manual to automated driving. Photo from CES.tech.

Wear Your Tech Not On Your SleeveWearable tech isn’t limited to Fitbits and smartwatches anymore. This sect of tech has grown up and spread its wings, shifting its focus to more medical, assistive, and service based products. We saw the Aira, which guides the blind with the help of remote viewers. New mothers will be excited to try out the Willow Breast Pump, a wearable pump that can be placed inside a nursing bra. The quiet, cordless Willow will detect when a mother needs to express and begin to pump and adjust accordingly, sending the milk into a sealed, single use bag inside the unit.

This quiet and comfortable breast pump could be a game changer for moms everywhere. Photo from Willow.com.

Of course, some of the most buzzworthy innovations at CES revolve around Virtual Reality. They’re improving the chips and cutting the cords, giving the user a better, more immersive experience. HTC exhibited the Vive, which turns the objects the user is holding in real life into things that appear on your headset. While this is pretty cool, it seems like the VR industry still has a long way to go before we start seeing VR headsets on every child’s wishlist.Laptops at the Top of the LineWhile it may not be the most exciting segment of tech at CES, laptops did hold their own against the more flashy and futuristic gadgets. Laptops are more powerful and affordable than ever. There were newer, faster chips, 2-in-1 hybrid laptops, more reasonably priced gaming laptops, Chromebooks that can run Android apps, and even a triple-screened laptop prototype. Most of these will hit stores in a matter of weeks, so you can check out the hype for yourself.

Samsung’s Chromebook Pro has a new hinge design bridging the gap between a chromebook and a tablet.

CES 2017 certainly had gadgets and gizmos a plenty, and we look forward to seeing whether these new innovations become staples in our daily lives or fade into the technological past.